This invention relates to apparatus for implanting fastener elements down through erosion control materials on the ground, such as, ground erosion control fabrics, particularly erosion control matting, geotextile fabric, and mulch netting and ground cover such as sod.
A common practice is to lay erosion control materials, such as, matting or geotextile fabric over grass seedlings or sod, particularly on sloping ground bordering roads and highway interchanges. In other instances, a mulched netting is positioned over mulch and it is required to hold the netting in place so that the mulch layer does not erode. Accordingly, these materials must be fastened in place on the ground so that they will not be displaced by rain, water runoff or wind.
The usual practice has been to use a hammer for driving handheld staples down into the cover material and on into the ground. This task is very laborious and causes the worker to accomplish this task on his hands and knees or bent over to use the hammer.
A number of fastener implanting machines have been developed in order to overcome these difficulties such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,627,563; 4,706,864 and 5,025,969. However, such devices have proven to be heavy and expensive to manufacture. They are also prone to jamming and excessive maintenance.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a combination anchoring pin and insertion apparatus therefore which alleviates or overcomes these shortcomings.
The combination anchoring pin and insertion apparatus of the present invention includes a vertically disposed elongated barrel having an axial bore with top and bottom openings and an elongated hammer drive rod that is slidably disposed or received within this bore with the upper end thereof extending above the top of the barrel opening. A handle is secured to the upper end of this drive rod.
A side opening is provided in the barrel and is dimensioned for sequentially introducing anchoring pins therethrough into the barrel bore. A pin guide chute is also secured to the barrel and aligned with this barrel side opening for sequentially feeding anchoring pins through the side opening in sequential guided alignment.
The anchoring pins used with the apparatus of the present invention have at least one pin shaft depending at a right angle downwardly from an enlarged head for driving engagement with the lower end of the drive rod. The drive rod is manipulated to drive the anchoring pin into underlying ground.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, an anchoring pin retainer is disposed in the barrel bore below the side opening for receiving, retaining and positioning an anchoring pin under the lower end of the drive rod to preposition the anchoring pin for downward driving engagement of its head by the lower end of the drive rod. These anchoring pins are comprised of a continuous length of heavy gauge steel wire having a straight shaft portion and an enlarged coiled head portion transverse to the shaft at the upper proximal end of the shaft portion. The anchoring pin may include a second straight shaft portion depending downwardly from the head in parallel to the aforesaid shaft portion thereby effectively providing a staple with a very large round head for engagement with the lower hammering head of the drive rod. This large coiled head uniformly distributes the downward hammering blows to the pin head to thereby easily drive the pin shaft into the ground in a fast and straight fashion. The large head more importantly more securely holds the ground cover down than a conventional staple.
Another feature of the combination anchoring pin and insertion apparatus therefore of the present invention is that this anchoring pin retainer includes a flexible disk transversely disposed in the barrel which has a central opening to receive an anchoring pin shaft so that the pin is held in alignment in the bore with the head of the anchoring pin resting on the flexible disk. This flexible disk is further provided with an annular series of spaced slits radially extending from the central opening for thereby permitting forced enlargement of the central opening with penetration of the enlarged pin head and the lower end of the drive rod passing therethrough.
A bottom portion of the barrel below the side opening is removable or detachable and the retainer is thereby accessible and removably secured in position between this bottom portion of the barrel and the remaining upper portion of the barrel.